[Sea and Sky]

Another mini-break

We headed down to the New Forest again for a long weekend - and had a thoroughly relaxing time. The weather was mostly good - it rained a couple of times, but never when we were out or wanting to go out. Photos will be up as soon as I've finished sorting them out, culling the bad ones and post-processing the decent ones. The journey down was, for a change, completely event-free, even though it was late at night when we went down.

We seemed to spend most of our time walking along the beach, although we did head over to Hurst Castle on Sunday (and met up with some online friends and fellow bloggers, Tim and Sarah, plus their two girls Rosie and April. April, the youngest, is a very active 19 month old girl who specialises in given everyone "Paddington Bear Hard Stares"!). We explored the inside then had a wander around some of the outside before deciding to take the ferry home. We were told there was a larger (94 seater instead of the normal 12 seater) leaving from the beach in front of the lighthouse, and we could see it was almost at the shore, so we waited, wondering how on earth we would board. There was a floating pontoon thing, but it didn't seem long enough. Plus the crew were having a lot of problems getting it anywhere near the shore. It turned out that an angler (or some-one) had cut one of the lines, making it far harder to land. The journey back was fortunately uneventful, although many of us got an impromptu shower as the boat turned and the wind sent a wave across into the boat! (My camera got caught in it, but somehow no salt water went inside it)

We got home around 1 am this morning!

More new photos

I've just uploaded new photos in the Milford, Plants and Sea and Sky albums. Mildford-on-Sea and Sea and Sky have the newest photos at the top, to go straight to the newest photos in plants, click on the link above, then use Next to navigate through them.

And all I ask is a tall ship...

We've just got back from a short break at Milford-on-Sea. I've only put one set of photos up so far - that of the tall ship "Tenacious" - there's more information about her in the gallery on the left.

We were visiting Hurst Castle, and happened to look out a window in time to see her skirting around The Needles. I very informatively yelled "Oh! Ship!" - as it's clearly not what you'd expect to find on the sea. I then amended my description to "tall ship!", and am actually quite chuffed I got it right!

If you're interested in the Jubilee Sailing Trust, who own and run her, they have a website, complete with more details about "Tenacious", (the site uses frames, so the previous link won't have the navigation bar on the side) including a deck plan as a pdf.

OUr most recent trip to the New Forest

I haven't written yet about our latest trip to Milford on Sea. We will have to start going down during the day - travelling through the New Forest at night is providing some interesting experiences. This time (the Easter weekend) it was cows. A herd of cows was wandering down one of the small streets we go down. As it was about 10 at night, and they seemed unaccompanied, we suspected some-one had left a gate open. Had there been any indication whatsoever of where we were, we would have called the police.

The van had become a bluebottle graveyard (another reason to go down earlier!) so we had to clean the place thoroughly before unpacking. Then off down to the sea (at about midnight!). There was foggy patches and the sound of the foghorn, and it all felt very adventurous

Police and dogs

As I came out of Oxford Circus tube this morning I saw two burly policeman walking past wearing heavy protective vests and generally looking ready for any trouble that may happen. Each had a dog, but  not the usual police dog type. Instead they had two Springer Spaniel types, one of which kept nudging it's handler's hand for some fuss!

Later on, going home, about half a dozen police were standing around in Oxford Circus tube station. This time there was only one police dog - a black Labrador asleep by their feet. (Actually, from the glance I got, it looked like it had gone to sleep ON one of their feet.)

I suspect these are sniffer dogs, which apparently tend to be Labradors and Spaniels, but it did look incongruous somehow.

A weekend getaway - photos

There is also a photo album on the left called Milford on Sea to accompany the weekend's trip - the photos are there, but it's not finished yet! It has now been finished - but there may be more to add!

A weekend getaway - day 2

Sunday - in which we have another lazy morning followed by meanderings by the sea and lots of photo retakes as I get paranoid about lens caps. A drive home in the daylight, an unexpected detour, heavy heavy traffic and - finally - home.

A weekend getaway - day 1

Saturday - when we discover exactly how big the Isle of Wight is, how tiring shingle can be to walk on - especially if you have blisters, where the "inland" lighthouse is, what noise swans make flying low overhead, and whythe balloon kept vanishing.

A weekend getaway - night 1

Friday - in which we avoid floods, but find mist, fog, ponies and deer all wandering around on little country roads. Plus - a midnight trip to the beach, the sound of foghorns, the case of the missing Island, and the mysterious inland lighthouse.

Playing catch up

Never intended it to be so long before I blogged again!

Been on holiday for the last week. As part of my birthday pressie, Dave took me up to the National Gallery to see the Stubbs exhibition. I've always liked Stubbs' work, but Dave - I think - was expecting to maybe be a little bored.

The first picture you see when you walk in is the life-size portrait of Whistlejacket. It's on the wall opposite the entrance and, really, you can't miss it. It is just the horse, semi-rearing in a classical manner. No background, no people, nothing. Just the chestnut stallion. Dave's jaw hit the floor and he stood, mesmerised by the painting.

When I could tear him away, we looked at the rest of the pics - his anatomical drawings (which are excellent references even today), and various other horse paintings, plus a few etchings of/based on his paintings.

We browsed the exhibition shop, then went and drooled at Whistlejacket again.